WITNESS IS CHARGED WITH MURDER

Last month, when police entered the Chick-Fil-A restaurant at the Palm Beach Mall and found Nicholas Megrath tied to a chair with a gunshot wound in his head, they got a multitude of detailed observances from co-worker Marlon Johnson.

Johnson, who was to give Megrath a ride home the night of May 1, told the officers he was worried because his boss was taking too long to leave the restaurant and wasn't answering the phone inside.

He described seeing shadowy figures in and around the restaurant and a white Oldsmobile Cutlass that sped away with its lights off.

But three weeks later, detectives got a tip that Johnson had in fact taken part in the slaying of Megrath, an 18-year-old Forest Hills High School honor student, according to an arrest report that was unsealed on Thursday.

Johnson, 24, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and armed robbery.

He remains at the Palm Beach County Jail without bail.

"We were suspicious of his story from the very beginning," said Lt. Mark Anderson, of the West Palm Beach Police Department.

The arrest comes six months after Johnson was released from prison, where he was serving time for drug possession, which he was arrested for in January 1997.

Police are now looking for additional suspects.

They have offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killers.

"This was a very brutal crime," police spokeswoman Dena Peterson said. "It's something no one deserves."

When officers entered the restaurant through an unlocked rear door, they found MeGrath sitting on a chair with duct tape around his hands, arms, feet, upper body and mouth, reports show.

The informant who called police on May 24 said Johnson told him he unlocked the rear delivery door for three accomplices and took part in robbing the restaurant, the arrest report said.

Three days later, detectives caught up with Johnson and interviewed him again.

He told them that three men from his neighborhood had approached him the day of the murder and said they needed money and were going to rob the restaurant in the mall's food court, the report said.

Johnson said the men told him anyone who got in the way would be killed, according to the report.

He said he saw the same men at the restaurant that night after leaving work at 9:36 p.m. Johnson then gave police the names of three men who he claimed took part in the slaying.

However, Johnson never told either police or his co-workers about the planned robbery.

In addition, he waited 20 minutes before approaching officers who responded to the scene around 10:15 p.m., and he didn't initially mention seeing any men or a getaway car, police said.

Peterson said detectives interviewed the men who Johnson identified, but they were never arrested because there was no evidence they participated in the crime.

She said they now want to know who Johnson's real accomplices are.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the West Palm Beach Police Department at 561-653-3456.